That almost hurt to read. Not because of the state of the hobby, but the odd Japanese translation. Ouch.

But in retrospect, it was an accurate but sad view. It looks like we eventually will be relying solely on Asia for producing the worlds kits, which isn't actually a bad thing, considering the quality that comes out of that continent. Is this lull in the Americas permanent, or is social media and smart phones going to be just a fad? After we get bored of that, we're going to need something to do.

i don't know how this is going to end up, what i do know is that no new "young blood" is arriving... 20 years ago, i was the youngest member in my r/c model boat club. today, i am still the youngest member in the club, and the number of members is about half of what it was 20 years ago. there are also a lot more of the retired age members that have realized that they no longer have the time to "waste" building kits. they want RTR finished models that they can enjoy now, not two years from now.